


I'm Glad I Was Wrong

by IsobelSionisFalcone



Series: Danse Speech Prompts [1]
Category: Fallout 4
Genre: F/M, Survivor Guilt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2019-01-31 15:29:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12684663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IsobelSionisFalcone/pseuds/IsobelSionisFalcone
Summary: Nora still feels guilty about destroying the Institute. Danse comforts her as best he can.Speech prompt; "I never thought there was room for anything else in my life besides the Brotherhood. I'm glad I was wrong."





	I'm Glad I Was Wrong

She's stood there for an hour every month, on the same day, the same time, bringing the same, lone red flower to the middle section of the bridge. This is the first time Danse has had the opportunity to go with her to Greygarden. Normally, she'd check in with the robots on her day's leave, but now she's been promoted, Nora has leave to do as she sees fit.

The Sentinel had been unusually quiet, reflective on the journey, Danse's heavy, armoured footfalls the only sound besides the crunching of dirt beneath her boots. He's never known the significance of this place; yes, it was a technological feat to have an entire settlement run by robots, but that isn't the reason her visits here are seared into her routine. He has a feeling he's about to find out a little more about his new found love, what it means to be close to someone, to cherish them above all else.

The former Paladin did not expect melancholy. The river is fairly slow moving, water sloshing up against the supporting columns as she tosses the flower to the wind. He stands a little way off, leaving her to grieve (for what, he does not know) until the petals have disappeared beneath the bridge. Only then does he approach, the pink hue from the sunset clouds softening his features and making Nora look as if she's in one of those pre-war motion pictures she's told him about. His mechanised footsteps are slow, the quiet hiss of his suit's hydraulics almost comforting in breaking the silence. Danse stops, stares across the river with her, and eventually reaches out to take her hand, dwarfing hers with the large metal digits.

The pair stand like that until the sky turns orange, at which point Danse chances looking at Nora. Her jaw is tight, breaths coming out shaking. He wishes he knew what she was thinking. He wishes he could help her forget the pain that she feels. She's never been the same since she destroyed the Institute. As far as Danse is aware, he's the only person she told about Shaun, the real Shaun who she left inside the clean, white walls to die. She'd cried for hours in his arms, bleeding misery and heartbreak and he felt it. He just couldn't make it go away.

"There was a game we used to play..." Nora says suddenly and he has to strain his ears to hear her. "Back when there were still trains coming across this bridge. It was called 'Chicken'. It's what you did if you were a ne'er-do-well..."

Danse has never thought about what Nora might have been like pre-war. He's only known this courageous and passionate woman. As he watches a teardrop roll down her cheek, coloured by the dimming evening haze, he thinks he's seeing a more fragile side of her.

"I... I used out here with my twin sister," she continues. "We did it all the time. Our mother was a chem addict and we never knew our father, so there was no one to worry about where we were."

He clasps her hand a little tighter when her voice begins to waver and she takes a deep breath.

"Anyway, this game... You'd jump in front of a moving vehicle and move out of the way at the last second," she explains. "It was about the rush, the adrenaline. Of course, you can't keep staring death in the face and expect it to ignore you... Except it ignored me. Or perhaps it didn't. Perhaps it was taunting me by taking Mia, instead..."

There's a long pause as Danse's hand slides around her waist in a comforting gesture. It's a little awkward in his armour, but she rests her head against the solid plating and allows him to embrace her.

"She died here..." Nora mutters. "I should've seen sense, should never have played that stupid game in the first place..." Her tears flow freely now and she clutches at him, desperate to find solace, so he tries to reach out to that seemingly untouchable part of herself that is riddled with guilt and sorrow. "It should have been me..." she whispers. "That's all I could think when I left the vault. It should have been me in Nate's place. He was so much braver, so much stronger..."

Danse pulls back and cups her cheeks, power armour grease rubbing off on her skin. "Nora, I found something to live for in you," he says softly, meeting her hazel eyes with his dark brown. "You're far stronger than you think. You've been through so much in such a short time and still came out fighting." Danse takes a deep breath and says what he wishes he found easy to tell her. "I love you, Nora. I... You were the one who made it out of that Vault, who saved my team, my life and you... You keep me going."

"Danse..."

"I mean it, Nora," he says quickly before his inhibitions kick in and he stops talking. "I never thought there was room for anything else in my life besides the Brotherhood. I'm glad I was wrong. Selfish as it may seem, you're all I have. If it hadn't been you who survived, I would never have known what it really means to..." he has to think about how to describe what she's given him. It's no easy task - words can't express it, but he tries, if only to let her know that she really means something to him. "To feel human."

It's a simple statement, one that's steeped in pain and irony, but passion and gratitude, too.

"I love you, too," Nora says. "You gave me the hope I needed when I was at my worst. That's what struck me about you, Danse. You care."

"Of course I do," he replies with all the purpose and certainty he'd had when he was still a Brotherhood soldier. "You're worth it. More than worth it."

Danse watches the soft smile take form on her equally soft lips. His only regret is that can't bend down far enough to kiss her in his armour, so he picks her up instead, walking back to the mostly intact house near Greygarden where they set up camp a few hours before.

"Danse!" she cries in shock, clinging to the torso of the suit.

He chuckles and continues across the bridge at a leisurely pace. He's in no hurry. "The temperature will drop soon," he states. "I suggest we pull our bed rolls together to retain a sufficient amount of body heat."

She cracks a grin. "Is that all you want to sleep next to each other for?"

"Well... Perhaps a certain amount of physical activity is also required."

Nora likes the sound of that.

**Author's Note:**

> More coming soon!


End file.
